Our lake house in Pennsylvania has had its share of issues. Hit by lightning a minimum of 4 times, the electrical system had to be entirely replaced and a surge system installed. Then there was the water heater that burst, ran for a few days and destroyed the first floor. OUCH! The Wally Home will help prevent such future issues.This system is something many people may think is unnecessary, but when you’ve run into the issues we have you understand how important it is to have a system that can constantly monitor water and temperature changes. One burst pipe or rapidly dropped temperature can cause thousands of dollars of damage and make your house unlivable for days or months. As the company notes, “Wally detects and alerts you of water leaks as well as important changes in humidity and temperature, keeping small problems from turning into big, expensive ones.”

The system is a wonderful example of a smart home module that pretty much anyone can install without issue. It takes no technical knowledge and requires no tools. If you are able to use your computer or smart phone and understand what a Wi-Fi router and ethernet are you are good to go since the company website walks you through the process step by step. Best of all, the entire process from start to finish takes less than half an hour.

The system consists of two main types of component – there is the base system which directly connects into your router and there is the smart sensor. Each sensor will monitor one location and you can add multiple sensors so that key locations throughout your home are constantly under “observation”.For example, placing a sensor near each toilet will help monitor that bathroom. Placing a sensor beneath the kitchen sink will ensure that any leaks inside of the cabinet will be detected long before the water pours out onto your floor. And putting one in the basement or utility room near the water heater will help avoid problems like the one we ran into a few years ago. Once the system is up and running you really don’t need to do anything, because it effectively runs in the background and only notifies you when there is an issue. Such issues can include leaks but also may include sensors not registering on the system for an extended period of time. (We’ll come back to that in a moment because it reinforced for me just how good this system is.)

Video Review of the Wally Home

So as you can see in the video the system is aesthetically quite impressive and has the added benefit of being remarkably simple to set up and use. After going to the company website I created an account, and it began walking me through the process step-by-step in a manner that was easy to understand and required me to have no real comprehension of what the system is actually doing. That’s a good thing, because it means anyone who can read is able to set the system up.

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Step 1: I created an account on the Wally Home website.

Step 2: I connected the base station to my router and the website quickly recognized that it was connected and operational.

Step 3: The website invited me to determine where I would best place the sensors. (In our lake house it was quite obvious what locations were most logical.)

Step 4: On the website I “labeled” each sensor, made note of its location, pressed the button on top of the sensor, and waited for the system to indicate that the base had recognized the sensor.

Step 5: I placed each sensor in the proper location.

Step 6: I stopped worrying about leaks.

The whole process took me about 15 minutes.

I did run into an issue where two of the sensors didn’t seem to hold their connection. I removed them from my account, reinstalled them, and everything seemed to be fine. We came back to New Jersey, and two days later I was even more impressed by the system and the company behind it. I received an unsolicited email from the monitoring company indicating that those two sensors had lost connection and were no longer active. The fact that they became aware of the sensor’s failure and let me know, rather than my having to check and discover it for myself, makes clear that the monitoring is 24/7, and that I don’t need to do anything once the system is up and running. The email also suggested some of the fixes that might work to help ensure this doesn’t occur again, and I’ll put them into practice as soon as I get back up to the lake house. Rather than seeing the failed connection as a problem, I view it as a great example of reinforcing the constant protection offered by the Wally home system.

Had I never encountered significant water damage I don’t know that I would have appreciated this system and what it offers. Because we have had significant water damage in the past however I not only appreciate this system but I am thrilled to have it. Setup was easy and the system is monitoring the house 24 hours a day 7 days a week. If there is an issue I know that I’ll hear about it rather quickly and can call our friend and neighbor for help. When you have a home that sits empty for weeks at a time that kind of peace of mind is fantastic. Even in our main home I can see the benefit and I’m seriously considering buying a system 4 use there too. If you want to make sure you don’t incur significant water damage this is the system for you.

And while you can purchase the base unit and just a sensor or two for less then the $299 price of this bundle, having that many sensors is a definite positive. You can learn more and order yours here.

MSRP: $299 bundle

What I Like: Simple to set up; Monitors 24/7 once operational; Central monitoring system reaches out when there is an issue; Sensors will last up to ten years; Initial $300 outlay can save thousands of dollars

Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”)Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him.